Thursday, March 31, 2011

Have you ever even seen a disaster movie that comes close to this scenario?

"There also are concerns about the disposal of bodies, because Japanese tend to cremate their dead, and fires can spread radiation. The Health Ministry recommends that the bodies be cleaned and those with even small levels of radiation should be handled only by people wearing suits, gloves and masks."

As if Japan needs another twist in this horror story. If thousands of bodies have to be recovered in this manner because they are virtually glowing how long can we estimate that this might take? Far too long from a decent, respectful viewpoint. They might have to rethink the 'tendency' to cremate at this point.

It begs the thought though, where do you bury a massive number of people that are contaminated with radiation? This nightmare is far from over.

Radiation slows recovery of dead near Japan plant - Yahoo! News: "Efforts to recover the bodies from the 12-mile (20-kilometer) evacuation zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant have been slowed by a wasteland of debris, but also by fears of radiation. Police in that prefecture dressed in full radiation suits retrieved 19 corpses from the rubble Wednesday, the police official said. Authorities declined to say how many bodies might still be buried in the evacuation zone, but local media have estimated hundreds remain. Each officer wears a radiation detector and must leave the area whenever an alarm goes off — a frequent occurrence that has often dragged the operation to a halt, the official said. 'We want to recover bodies quickly, but also must ensure the safety of police officers against nuclear radiation,' he said. Officers were forced to give up trying to recover one corpse Sunday after radiation on it triggered the alarm. There also are concerns about the disposal of bodies, because Japanese tend to cremate their dead, and fires can spread radiation. The Health Ministry recommends that the bodies be cleaned and those with even small levels of radiation should be handled only by people wearing suits, gloves and masks. Overall, including in regions further from the stricken plant, police have recovered more than 11,000 bodies, but estimate that at least 19,500 are dead."